Green Oak Township man works his magic

Green Oak Township resident Jim Placido, a magician who goes by the name Mr. Magico, levitates a tax form. In his day job, Placido is a senior tax settlement officer for 1-800-LAW-FIRM in Southfield.(Photo11: Gillis Benedict/Livingston Daily)Buy Photo

In his job as a tax settlement officer with a Southfield law firm, Jim Placido helps clients make their tax problems disappear.

But it’s in his spare time that the real magic happens.

Placido, a Green Oak Township resident, performs as a magician on weekends under the name Mr. Magico.

It all began about 20 years ago with a Merlin’s Magic kit.

“When my oldest daughter was in preschool, I said I would do a magic show. So I bought a $10 box of magic tricks and went into her class, not having ever had an interest in magic,” Placido said. “I didn’t know you were supposed to actually practice this stuff before you do it, so I screwed up just about every trick. Well, the kids just loved it. We made it fun, and I was hooked.”

Shortly thereafter, Placido joined the Ann Arbor Magic Club.

“I started learning how to do a few tricks. Once I learned five or six, I was doing free birthday parties for families or whoever would ask. It just evolved from there,” he said.

Placido has performed at private homes, schools, senior centers, restaurants — even in a suite at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a rain delay. He also has lifted the spirits of kids at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and entertained attendees at the Brighton Relay For Life.

Most of a magician’s tricks come from other magicians. Placido, 57, uses showmanship and humor to make those tricks his own.

His wife, Maura, and daughters Christina, 24, and Angelina, 16, have often served as a test audience for Placido’s new tricks.

“A lot of the tricks are sold commercially,” he said. “Your mission is to take that trick and figure out a way to do it differently. It’s the same trick, but you do it differently” than another magician would.

Rope tricks are among Placido’s favorites, including one in which three pieces of rope of different lengths magically become the same size. While performing the trick, Placido tells the tale of Luigi, an Italian spaghetti factory worker who has short, medium and long pieces of spaghetti. Placido explains that Luigi’s boss tells him the three spaghetti pieces need to be the same length.

“As a magician, you have to be kind of an entertainer,” Placido said. “I was never afraid of a crowd and that probably helped.”

Tony Saputo, a friend and fellow member of the Ann Arbor Magic Club, worked many shows with Placido.

“He’s very energetic and gets the audience into his magic by his expressions and by the way he presents things,” Saputo said.

Even in his job with 1-800-LAW-FIRM in Southfield, Placido can be called upon to entertain.

“Our owner, Ari Kresch, is always bringing people around and every time he comes into my area he’s like, ‘Jim, show him a trick.’ So I’ve always got to have something in my pocket,” Placido said, pulling out a cigarette with a filter that magically appears on the wrong end of the cigarette each time he switches its position in his mouth. “I’ve been trying to start smoking for two years,” he joked.

Placido has been one of the leaders of the Ann Arbor Magic Club, serving three two-year terms as club president.

“I enjoy doing this. There’s a saying by David Blaine, ‘You don’t get into magic, magic gets into you.’ That’s kind of how it is,” Placido said.

“If you come to one of our Ann Arbor Magic Club meetings you’ll see a bunch of people — many of them older than I am — and for that couple of hours, we are 10-year-old kids again.”

Contact Livingston Daily reporter Mike Lammi at 517-552-2854 or at mlammi@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeLammi.

Magical details

•Jim Placido of Green Oak Township has performed magic as Mr. Magico for two decades. Mr. Magico is available for private parties and events. Placido said he typically charges $125 an hour. For more information, call Placido at 248-231-2271.

•Placido is a member and past president of the Ann Arbor Magic Club. To learn more about the club, visit http://aamagic.org.

•Michigan Magic Day, an annual gathering of magicians and vendors, will take place May 1-3 in Kalamazoo and includes shows open to the public. For more information, visit http://michiganmagicday.com.